
CHENNAI: While speaking about the tag of the king of Tamil theatre, R Natana Sabapathy brushed aside the fact of himself having donned the characters of a king. But then, a closer look at his performance and the inputs of his drama colleagues revealed that he was indeed the master blaster.
For the record, Sabapathy has over 300 plays spread over 2,500 shows to speak volumes of his magnetic stage presence. A long-time friend and veteran scriptwriter KP Arivanandam suggested that Sabapathy’s USP was slipping into any character and making capital use of the stage space in every sense of the word.
Donning characters much below his age, the septuagenarian said the one character that has stood the test of time has to be Aditya Karikalan in the evergreen Ponninyin Selvan for Ajay Entertainers. Dwelling on that historical character, Sabapathy says he went into deep research to get the nuance of the character right. Sabapathy says,
“History has it that Karikalan’s killing was an act of revenge on the Chola Prince by the Pandyas but critics had raised doubts of the involvement of Nandini, who longed to exact revenge on the act of Karikalan beheading her beloved Veerapandiya. The homework helped me to get deep into the character. Once the script is understood, it is up to the artiste concerned to make the most of the inputs. In history scripts, the facts have to be in place for the audience to connect with the happenings.”
Rewinding the happening and best phase of his life, Sabapathy recalls playing dual characters in the annual event in his school in Mayiladuthurai. “My performance got noticed in a big way, paving the doors to open in the plays of Gangai Kalalaya, a famed drama troupe. I owe what I am today to the encouragement of stage director Nadagapani Arunagiri, who took me under his wings.”
Sabapathy saw the early inspiration from the encouraging words of the late Kalaimamani TV Narayanaswamy, who saw him as an emerging talent playing the character Cheran Senguttuvan, presiding over the play Kannagiyin Sabatham. Such a comment coming from an individual who had acted alongside Sivaji Ganesan in Parasakthi looked too good to be true.
The big break
There was no looking back for Sabapathy. The big break came for him as Adithya Karikalan, where he had three scenes to home in his presence. “When the audience thundered and rose as one to call me ‘Medai Sivaji’ after the play, it was the moment an artiste lives for. From that moment, I am the permanent Karikalan for director Mallikraj. Many emotions needed to be presented in the form of anger, bravery, calmness besides love. That I came trumps on all the facets won me a legion of fans. Once they tried a substitute but the ownership rights came back to me.”
In Kalki’s masterpiece Paarthiban Kanavau, Sabapathy says he could leave his imprint when his Narasimha Pallavan character was enlarged to hold the audience’s interest. Sivagamiyin Sabatham was the other play where Sabapathy revelled even as the plot centred around the pivotal character.
Acceding that an actor can only his part in a team effort, for Sabapathy the success of a play depends on the background score, dialogues, makeup, and costumes — everything has to be in the right proportion. “I do get inspired viewing the movies of experts like Sivaji Ganesan and MGR. In my view, every individual in theatre is blessed with a quality that a director has to spot and make it a win-win situation. Mallikraj is a master in sniffing talents and providing a platform without the slightest delay,” he says.
A play revived on the 94th birth anniversary of RS Manohar by his nephew S Shivpprasadh, had Sabapathy again playing a prince, whose character was right through the play where 45 characters were enacted by over 30 artistes.
In a lighter vein, Sabapathy says Devi of Devi Kalaikudam was his ‘Man Friday’, assigning him the important character of Periyamarudhu in the play Veeramanga Velunachiar besides a landmark character in the television serial Agamum Puramum.
Conceding that he was blessed to be presented with characters of various hues, Sabapathy picks Swami Vivekananda and Mahakavi Bharathi for the sheer magnetic appeal of those characters. The audience comprising mostly senior citizens had a great insight into the range and acumen of the two sharpest brains of different eras. “What pumped me was the challenge to meet the expectation of the viewers, who will not accept anything short of perfection from me,” he adds.
Acknowledging the support of actor-director Shivpprasadh, giving him the author-backed role of Mahendran in Chanakya Sabatham, Sabapathy went bonkers doing the character of Sivan (brother of Kanchi Periyava Chandrasekara Swamiji) where he had to be at his subdued best to get the emotions right.
On his joy-drenched journey on stage, Sabapathy feels the happy augury was in the meaningful one to test his creative side. To go with the numerical figures of the plays are five movies, four short films, and over 40 television serials besides the regular calls from All India Radio.
A gentle piece of advice from Sabapathy to the youth is to view the stage plays if the aspiration is to look for a career in movies. “It is the stage where the seed is sown and the audience’s reaction can be seen and heard. The bottom line is to never get carried away remembering the essence of the character stored at the back of the mind. Few stage liberties can be taken but for that, an artiste has to bide his time. You need the audience license for that,” he wraps it up with a parting shot.